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2016 Cost of Data Breach Study: United States

13 Sep 2017

Over the many years studying the data breach experience of 2,013 organizations in every industry, the research has revealed the following seven megatrends.

Since first conducting this research, the cost of a data breach has not fluctuated significantly. This suggests that it is a permanent cost organizations need to be prepared to deal with and incorporate in their data protection strategies.

The biggest financial consequence to organizations that experience a data breach is lost business. Following a data breach, organizations need to take steps to retain customers’ trust to reduce the long-term financial impact.

Most data breaches continue to be caused by criminal and malicious attacks. These breaches also take the most time to detect and contain. As a result, they have the highest cost per record.

Organizations recognize that the longer it takes to detect and contain a data breach the more costly it becomes to resolve. Over the years, detection and escalation costs in our research have increased. This suggests investments are being made in technologies and in-house expertise to reduce the time to detect and contain breaches.